Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (1 Viewer)

[nick1048]

Thoughts? I Completed the book these holidays and found it, whilst long and tedious at time, a rather enjoyable read. Very articulate and formal, although that is a bias opinion (context factors), have you read it and if you have what did u think?

 

[tabularasa]

i read some of it last year. I found it to be enjoyable but very verbose. Eventually i got bored with it and put it down. However it was a good book of what i read. Just i had to give it back to teacher.

 

[gemita]

One of the most fantastic books I've ever read. Up there with To Kill A Mockingbird. I didn't find it stiff or formal at all, I thought it had gorgeous flashes of humour and really engaging characters and plots. I couldn't put it down. How can you not fall in love with the scene where Jo and Pip try to read and write together?

 

[Steven12]

i only saw the bbc movie of it, i liked it, i was touched by the last part where pip asks betty if she would give him a second chance but turns out she was marrying jo........so i think i might read the book as well

 

[Igor]

i enjoyed it as a look at british society, but a better Dickens book when looking at industrialism/utilitariansim etc is "Hard Times". a very VERY good read, not to intelectual and strangely applicable to our times. .... no maybe not so strangley.

 

[Grobus]

I personally think Dickens is one of the most frustrating authors to read. His writing style is so counter intuitive to what language has developed into now that its a real slog to get through his books (especially when they are as long as ones like Nicholas Nickelby) that often dont have a particularly engrossing story or characters.

Tale of Two Cities was good though.

 

[absolution*]

Anyone who thinks Dickens is verbose needs to read more, a lot fucking more.

Grobus, you fucking suck. Great Expectations, whilst not living up to the great expectations of Grobus (can of piss, inter-racial porn and naked clowns) is among one of my favourite books, purely in a literary sense, through its exploration of Victorian paradigms of wealth, power and love. Pip is a character which is easy for anyone to relate to and Dickens' attention to detail, whilst may be frowned upon my the less learned, is what makes him such a classic author.

 

[Grobus]

Actually, Id say it takes a lot more confidence in your English skills to be able to read and criticise Dickens than blindly use the same recycled praises his works seem to widely get.

Dickens isnt making any comments on Victorian England that arent made by other authors of the same period too.

Hell, the Bronte girls were doing it before the Victorian period really started.

 

[absolution*]

Actually, Id say it takes a lot more confidence in your English skills to be able to read and criticise Dickens than blindly use the same recycled praises his works seem to widely get.

Dickens isnt making any comments on Victorian England that arent made by other authors of the same period too.

Hell, the Bronte girls were doing it before the Victorian period really started.

Erm, im sorry for recycling. But ive never studied this book and the comments i made seemed to be the obvious strengths of the book. So no, im not really sorry.

Im not saying that Dickens was unique in his commentary of Victorian England, i merely suggested that social commentary should not be overlooked when reading novels in a vastly different context to that which they were written.

Bronte girls can suck my dick. ens.....

 

[Grobus]

Its important, but at the end of the day, some of the most fascinating aspects of a novel are garnered by looking at how history has changed their reception. Hell, if you want detailed commentary on society you could read the essays of J.S. Mill, but history doesnt remember him so much. Why? Because time has rendered his works virtually unreadable, so the educational mentality is to study something easier to understand.

 

[Sevcan]

ayee just thort id include my two cents here

i just gotta say that novels like great expectations...can be related to by every single generation i say

i mean, if this book was modernised n written with the language we use these days, it wudnt maintain its meaning

its not even that hard to understand...u get the hang of it after a while

the major theme in this book is self-improvemnt or advancement...in which i no..we call n alll friggin relate to...so stop whining n read tha book....u might learn a thing or two

i no i have

thats all
p.s. sevcan rockd this joint

 

[Ice Goddess]

Its important, but at the end of the day, some of the most fascinating aspects of a novel are garnered by looking at how history has changed their reception. Hell, if you want detailed commentary on society you could read the essays of J.S. Mill, but history doesnt remember him so much. Why? Because time has rendered his works virtually unreadable, so the educational mentality is to study something easier to understand.

Nice wording there! I agree. Charles Dickens is kinda... well let's just say he isn't My favourite in all the Classic authors. But what you like the mesage of the bok to be influences your likes and dislikes. If looking for entertainment, i'd turn to Austen rather than to Dicken. But if you want an "educational read" (dry) then go fot it!

 

[WesternSky]

Also having "The Skull Beneath The Skin" and "Hamlet" to read it can be quite time consuming, but I actually enjoyed it, I found myself watching the movie at the same time, just to compare it. I've always loved reading, so having something to read this holiday wasn't that traumatic as some of my classmates might find. I still need to finish it, even though my teacher already told us the ending at the beginning of our school year, which kind of sucks. I even found myself looking up the quotes on Tumblr, being a fangirl I was happy to find them related to myself.